KEY POINTS:
A James Bond fan in Britain has apparently shelled out around $500,000 for a Aston Martin DBS _ that doesn't work. The car is a wreck (above), written off by an Aston Martin engineer during filming of the latest Bond epic, Quantum of Solace, which opened in London the other night. The Aston is one of six DBS models used to make the movie. It met its fate when its driver lost control and speared through a fence into an Italian lake. Meanwhile, part of the hoopla surrounding the London premiere of the Bond movie was an MTV promotion where a female viewer got to become a Bond girl. Quantum of Solace leading lady Olga Kurylenko (pictured) will help put the MTV winner through the month-long programme, which includes advanced driving, martial arts, styling and makeover.
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More from the larrikin artists playing with words and illustrations for Election '08 bumper stickers and T-shirts. There's Helen Clark saying "Jesus is coming _ everyone look busy" while Winston Peters is snoozing in a chair. Another of Clark, Michael Cullen, Trevor Mallard, John Key, Peters and Rodney Hide comes with the words: "People like these are the reason people like me need medication." Another asks: "Do skeletons have politicians in their closets?" Yet another: "Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are doing something else." One of Clark and Cullen is headlined: "If we stop voting, will they go away?" A variation on an old theme popped up in the US this week: "Give Bush a third term _ I'm tired of waiting for the Apocalypse."
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Mini has taken the wraps off its plug-in electric variant, the Mini E. In place of the rear seats are 5088 lithium-ion batteries which power an under-bonnet engine generating 150kW and and 220Nm of torque. Fully charged, the Mini E has a range of 230km, sprints from zero to 100km/h in around eight seconds and on to a top speed of 150km/h.
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Ford CEO Alan Mulally says bankruptcy protection isn't an option for the carmaker, despite a free-falling US car market that is prolonging Ford, GMs' and Chrysler losses. "People aren't going to buy cars from bankrupt companies when they have great choices."
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Motorist Michael Mills Jr, 38, tried to get away from pursuing police in West Virginia by crashing through a barrier and jumping his car Dukes of Hazzard-style over the spans of a drawbridge. He missed and police fished he and his car out of the river. Reminds us of the bumper sticker we saw on a pick-up truck in South Carolina: "West Virginia: one million people, 15 last names."
alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz
